insideKENT Magazine Issue 99 - June / July 2020 | Page 39

HOME+GARDEN
YOUR GARDEN THIS MONTH:
JUNE
BE INSPIRED BY THE COLOUR OF SUMMER AND THE INTRICATE DESIGNS OF KENT’S
GLORIOUS AWARD-WINNING FORMAL GARDENS TO CREATE YOUR OWN BESPOKE
GARDEN DESIGNS AND DEMONSTRATE YOUR ARTISTIC FLAIR.
DESIGNING
WITH BEDDING PLANTS
Fashionable since Victorian times, bedding plants
have had a new lease of life with new plant varieties
and creative planting designs.
Successional planting
Many public gardens change the bedding displays
twice a year, replanting in late spring (for summer)
and early autumn (for winter/spring). However, the
highest-maintenance displays require late spring,
mid- to late summer and autumn plantings.
Whichever regime you choose, this can be done in
small gardens too.
For replanting twice a year: try the summer
combination of begonia, the flowering seedheads of
ornamental grasses (such as Pennisetum setaceum
‘Rubrum’) and late-flowering salvia and verbena.
For winter, plant perennials such as bergenia,
cyclamen, hellebores, and viola to give interesting
foliage as well as flower colour during mild spells.
If you are replanting three times a year: plant
en masse with tulips and polyanthus for spring;
replacing them with nemesia and alyssum for early
summer, then cannas and dahlia for late-summer
colour. This generally requires well-developed (larger)
plants as they have less time to grow and develop in
the ground; but can give a fuller display.
Formal bedding
Mostly for bold displays in public gardens and
sometimes used in smaller ornamental parterre
gardens, formal beds usually consist of neat,
symmetrical patterns. Formal planting should be
used for entire beds, in closely planted blocks
of colour (often in association with orderly edging
plants such as lobelia or even clipped box). Dahlias,
geraniums, bedding lobelias and salvias
(Salvia splendens cultivars) are some of the plants
frequently used.
Informal bedding
Bedding plants can be used less formally in the
garden, perhaps to brighten up the front of a border
or fill bare soil under roses. Straight lines and
symmetrical patterns are not compulsory here – it’s
more a case of having fun with colour and textures.
Carpet bedding
Carpet bedding is the most intensive form of bedding
and uses plants that are so compact and tightly
knitted that the appearance is akin to a woven carpet.
Designs are often technically complex and can
include highly intricate displays such as floral clocks,
lettering or coats-of-arms.
For the home gardener, designs can be much less
elaborate, but still effective. To create the look, the
design should first be sketched on graph paper then
executed using contrasting, low-growing, foliage
plants such as alternanthera, echeveria, saxifraga,
sedum and sempervivum.
Some public gardens use thousands of plants in
carpet bedding and obtain computerised plans
detailing how many plants are required and what
colour and type of plant. You can transfer this idea
to a small scale planting scheme.
www.rhs.org.uk
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